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Why Was the Gov’t Testing the Effects of Atomic Bombs on Beer?

Sep. 20, 2012 3:14pm Liz Klimas

U.S. Tests Nuclear Blasts Effect on Beverages in Commercially Packaged Containers, Find Liquid Still Usable

Screenshot of Operation Teapot's study. (Image via NuclearSecurity.com)

In the Cold War era — when fallout shelters were being constructed and students were practicing duck and cover drills — the U.S. government was conducting a multitude of tests for what would happen should a radioactive bomb be dropped — and how to go about life afterward.

One of these tests was on beverages.

Science historian Alex Wellerstein recently posted about this 1955 study — Operation Teapot — on The Nuclear Security Blog:

Operation Teapot was a series of fourteen nuclear weapons tests conducted in 1955 at the Nevada Test Site, and a number of them were specifically for getting information on nuclear effects for use in Civil Defense. One of these tests, dubbed Operation Cue, was “open” in the sense that the press was allowed to observe it, and it involved nuking a “Survival Town” full of mannequins, the pictures of which were featured prominently in The Atomic Café and were the inspiration for that improbable opening scene to the most recent Indiana Jones movie.

(Image: Wikimedia)

One of the questions the study sought to answer was, as Wellerstein puts it, “What will the survivors drink in the post-apocalyptic world?” Specifically, how would packaged beverages like soda and beer in glass and metal containers react toward radiation?

Wellerstein explains that the bottles of different liquids were placed as close as 1,056 feet away and as far as two miles away from “Ground Zero.”

The images below are from the study:

(Image via NuclearSecurity.com)

Beverages lined up for testing. (Image via NuclearSecurity.com)

What Project 32.2 found is that even after nuclear blasts, beverages in commercially packaged containers — those still intact after detonation — did not significantly take up radioactive material. The study abstract states these liquids could therefore be used as “potable water sources for immediate emergency response as soon as the storage area is safe to enter after an explosion.

The containers themselves did show some “induced radioactivity,” but the beverage themselves went unharmed.

Unfortunately, when it came to the taste — especially that of beer — it was altered a bit after the blasts.

Wellerstein writes with a sarcastic edge, “Not satisfied with their spot taste testing, they sent the radioactive beer on to careful laboratory study. And lo, it tasted acceptable, but not very good! Your tax dollars at work.”

Read more of Wellerstein’s description of the study here. He has also written on what a nuclear apocalypse would do to paper records and how the government would go about conducting “mortuary service.”

Check out the full study of the government testing beverage containers exposed to nuclear blasts here.

(H/T: NPR)

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Comments (46)

Murkman
Posted on September 21, 2012 at 12:35am
Beer is important people!

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- DR7789
  Posted on September 21, 2012 at 7:53pm
  This story makes light of it, but the radiation from atomic tests done in the 50′s and 60′s is still in the soil, water, etc. in the U.S. and is still in our food supply!
  
  Some of this radiation lasts from 300 to 240,000 years!
  
  Remember that there is no safe dose of radiation.
  
  Strontium is a really nasty radiation that ends up in our teeth and bones and causes cancer.
  
  There’s a great site that has been studying this for years: www dot nuclearcrimes dot org
  
  And did you know that radiation from Japan’s nuclear meltdowns (last March) blanketed the U.S. and was found in the air, milk, water, etc. in the U.S. ??
  
  Time to start learning more to protect yourselves and your families.
  
  Highly recommend a great site to stay current on the news of Japan’s nuclear crisis and how it’s affecting the world:
  
  www dot enenews dot com
  
  Report this comment
scrudge
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 7:44pm
Ah Yes OH my…. bIDEN is worried about the beer… thats a no-brainer

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- starman70
  Posted on September 20, 2012 at 8:42pm
  Obmam is highly encouraged by this testing seeing he is running a brewery in the White House. He wants to know that his stash will survive a nuclear attack. The outcome of those tests, made so many years ago, are encouraging to him.
  
  Report this comment
- bplumb23
  Posted on September 21, 2012 at 6:58am
  Jeez people.
  The whole beer vote aspect actually matters.
  It’s not wasted money and Romney is against it and blah blah blah.
  It is about humanizing the candidate and making them electable.
  Viva La Nevada. Spoken from a Nevada native – and former legislative aid in NV District 2, and Republican campaign worker.
  At least a few years ago we knew we’d always get the win for our party.
  Nowadays we act so inclusive and have no idea how to win an election. Wake the F up, and let’s take this back.
  You love Reagan so much – then go back and learn who he was instead of pretending he’s something he is not.
  
  Report this comment
needmoinfo
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 7:10pm
Toby Keith or Hank Williams Jr. must be writing new songs right now.

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Searchingforthelight
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 6:40pm
The truth is out there, just not here.

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OLDPAINT
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 6:38pm
There it is in black and white. Going against the principles on which our Great Nation was founded.

“God made beer because He wants us to be happy.”
Ben Franklin

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black9897
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 6:24pm
The taste changed? So instead of tasting like stale water and urine beer tasted like stale water, urine with a bit of A-Bomb flavor?

If I had to choose between drinking beer and dying…i’d go with dying.

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deltaecho
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 5:08pm
So now I’m gonna hafta get another Liberty safe just to store beer?
Well, ok, if I have to, I guess.

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- pissantno.10
  Posted on September 20, 2012 at 5:35pm
  naw throw the food out of the fridg in your bomb shelter.
  
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BULLDOG98
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 5:04pm
They wanted truth in the advertising slogan: Try our beer, it’s the bomb!

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Rickfromillinois
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 4:58pm
The bad news was that the beer went flat. The good news was that it glowed in the dark.

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- JACKTHETOAD
  Posted on September 20, 2012 at 6:09pm
  Ever have a Rolling Rock re-chilled? …le stink de pew…against the Geneva Convention.
  
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V-MindMeld
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 4:33pm
One hec of a beer buzz I guess……….lol

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echo216610
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 4:33pm
the story stated that the containers did show some “induced radioactivity” but the beverage inside was unharmed. how do you get the beverage out without getting contaminated by the container? and if the container is contaminated would the owner of the container also be contaminated?

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- JRook
  Posted on September 20, 2012 at 4:45pm
  Goes back to the silly notion that there a nuclear attack would be limited and thus anybody would survive past 6 months. I remember a civil defense survey of hospitals in the mid ’80s asking how many radioactive victims they could treat. The total for all the hospitals in the city of Pittsburgh was 10 at a time. The notion that there is any chance of responding or recovering from a modern nuclear attach is nonsensical. The use of these weapons is unthinkable and they should all be destroyed.
  
  Report this comment
- pissantno.10
  Posted on September 20, 2012 at 5:38pm
  and no one is going to cheat. ya right just look at the russians they already have lied and cheated. your dream rook is impossable.
  
  Report this comment
Searchingforthelight
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 4:18pm
If the glass and plastic absorbs radioactivity, so does the liquid. What about the tests on the vegetation? What I’ve seen nothing is left. Boom.

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Rooks
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 4:17pm
Makes me think of the movie Young Einstein where he invents the nuclear bomb by trying to put bubbles in beer.

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Mutiny
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 4:16pm
Of all the dumb things they spend our money on this one ****** me off the least.

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toiletclogga
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 3:59pm
They were testing to see how well beer goes with pork rinds. Powerful stuff man!

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- Shrugged
  Posted on September 20, 2012 at 5:11pm
  I don’t think the prok rinds were from pigs though. They looked a little like your aunt betty.
  
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Docrow
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 3:43pm
In the 50′s they did not know what the effects would be on anything so everything was tested. Some even kept small amounts in the desk not knowing it was harmful. (My grandfather worked at Las Alamos during this time as an engineer.)

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- pissantno.10
  Posted on September 20, 2012 at 5:41pm
  just look at the pictures they standing allfull close bet the all died of cancer
  
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KickinBack
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 3:35pm
Top 5 tips for surviving nuclear/EMP/Obama zombie holocaust:

5. Finding shelter
4. Finding a sufficient water source
3. Ability to hunt/grow food
2. Football
1. Brewing beer

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on September 20, 2012 at 3:48pm
  KICKINBACK, Absolutely right. Also from the story above, while open water can be contaminated not only by microbiols it will most assuredly contain fallout dust. Contained beer will be safer to consume. If anybody saw Mike Rowe’s How Booze Built America, this explained there. Having lived in Germany for almost nine years I was taught this many years ago. Beer was safer than water anyway.
  
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- Anonymous T. Irrelevant
  Posted on September 20, 2012 at 3:52pm
  I think #1 & 2 are reasons for WANTING to survive a nuclear holocaust :-)
  
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thibx
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 3:33pm
oboma doesn’t want his beer to get destroyed when iran bombs us.

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Eastinfection
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 3:31pm
So the only thing remaining after a nuclear war will be drunk cockroaches?

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Carlinpa
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 3:30pm
The cans must have worked like a Faraday cage..

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- Anonymous T. Irrelevant
  Posted on September 20, 2012 at 3:54pm
  Unless beer is made from semi-conductors, it doesn’t need to. I always thought I would build a Faraday cage inside the walls of my house, if I ever built one. I never got to build one.
  
  Report this comment
floridareader
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 3:28pm
Maybe some residue of that beer is part of the White House recipe. And maybe that’s why BHO has so many faces, just like Dr. Jekyll l and Mr. Hyde.

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historyguy48
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 3:28pm
My God, what if the lasting effects of radiation killed off the yeast and we had no more beer. What a horrible place this planet would be. Even the surviving cockroaches would want to leave.

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lassiegirldawn
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 3:25pm
This is the only thing about Glenn Beck that will make him happy, maybe now I can get him to be a Glenn Beck fan.

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- Puddle Duck
  Posted on September 20, 2012 at 4:39pm
  Lassie…..Go back to licking your own privates ( as that would make more sense than your idiotic post).
  
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Jenny Lind
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 3:22pm
Well, if you want to kill beer drinkers with “stuff” in it, it still has to taste like beer, or at least through the first three or four, right?

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Dismayed Veteran
Posted on September 20, 2012 at 3:19pm
Beer was the drink of choice during the Dark Ages because water was so polluted. Good thing to know when the bomb goes off.

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on September 20, 2012 at 3:50pm
  You’ve got that right. When I was stationed in Wildflecken we used to visit the Kreuzberg Monastery often. I had learned that the monks brewed a strong beer to replace food during their annual 40 day fasts. Imagine living on nothing but 28% alcohol beer for 40 days.
  
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- Puddle Duck
  Posted on September 20, 2012 at 4:41pm
  The Bavarian Purity Law came into being during that time period so that drinkers could be assured that the beer they drank would not kill them.
  
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- pissantno.10
  Posted on September 20, 2012 at 5:45pm
  well i do on 365 days hic :)
  
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